Ah, switches. Not a touchscreen in sight. Lovely!

After the first bancruptsey, the company was rescued by a Rolls Royce dealer in St John’s Wood called Harold Smith Motors and he sank everything into saving GK. After it all went pear shaped, he was reduced to being a humble mechanic and I had the pleasure of working with him, although I couldn’t keep pace with his drinking which went some way to the companies demise.

My favourite car, bar none. Heartbreaking looks, gentleman’s club/fighter jet interior and a big V8. Thanks Jack.

Oh man look at that interior, style over substance in spades and I'm here for it. Lovely.

It is hardly surprising that Gordon Keeble went bankrupt, irrespective of how good it clearly was. Lotus were good but were always being bailed out. Without David Brown’s finance Aston Martin would have been continually bankrupt. Ferrari always struggled and were “helped out” by Fiat several times. Car making has massive economies of scale.

Wow ! What a beautiful dashboard/centre console ! Why can't modern cars be this elegant ? Never mind footroom-have your left leg sawn off !!

Glorious machine. Stunning dashboard. EVERY manufacturer should take note of this. We need to go back to simplicity. Great video Jack, as always. 😊

Built at Eastleigh Airport now Southampton Airport the home of the Spitfire. As I live nearby I believe my dad wrote a few articles on the car

I saw one of these in New Zealand in about 1965 and fell in love instantly! 60 years later, I am still only a Lottery win and a willing seller away from owning one. Fabulous car!

Truly glorious car, one of my all time favourites, thanks for featuring it!. Many years ago one came up behind me as I was driving along in Aberdeenshire and (naughtily) I managed to take a picture via the (big) side mirror of my van!. Thing is, knowing what it was and how rare a sight it was, I was almost beside myself with excitement!. But sadly, nobody I knew was interested enough in cars to understand and share my excitement!

Thanks for testing this beautiful car, most of us in France didn't ever heard about it. Sad story, it deserved to be successful.

One of Giugiaro's all-time greats; from a time when he could do no wrong (Bertone days). One can definately spot the influences and similarities with his Giulia 105-series GT and [earlier] Alfa 2000/2600 coupe, but I think this one has the charm and class of its own. Thanks so much for this rare treat, Jack. You made my day w this one!

Forgot to mention the ultra small pillers in the cab giving great views.

Saw about 12 of these one day a few years ago in Ironbridge. What a sight. Beautiful motor, I've loved these since I was a kid.

Love the shape... the Rover-esque tail lights, and the front Chinese-eyes! so elegant!

A Peugeot 504 Coupe look-alike. Or vice versa - timewise.

Fantastic looking thing, love the slanted headlights..

I first saw a photo of this car when I was 6 or 7 years old, in rural Australia, and my family was driving an Austin A30. I couldn't believe a car could be so beautiful, and the name, Gordon Keeble, sounded so exotic! It's still one on the best styled cars I've ever seen, Thanks for the video. And thanks to the owner for lending it to you.

A beautiful British car that was curtailed by another strike. Thanks Jack!

Thanks Jack. I believe production was based in the old Spitfire factory at Eastleigh for a while. A great shame it wasn't able to succeed!

It is a pretty car. The front reminds me a bit of the Lancia Flaminia Coupe. One thing is clear. Many sensational luxury GT cars were offered in the Midsixties. People with big wallets had quite some choices. The prettiest among many Beauties was the Iso Grifo. Most of those cars did not earn the manufacturers plenty of money and the production of many of those Beauties was quite slow. European styling and US power was a very good comination. Those cars were actually much easier to maintain than other brands. The sensational Facel Vega, Monteverdi, Iso Rivolta, Intermeccanica, De Tomaso and others took this route.

Having 95 out of about a hundred Gordon Keebles still on the road must also be a testament to the build quality and of course the fact that the body is fibreglass. In the UK and Europe rust is always the killer of vehicles, but fibreglass avoids that problem.

Looks quintessentially British, like a Deerstalker hat on wheels. Visions of Turtle neck sweaters, gentleman brogues, briar wood pipe and a stash of Dunhill tobacco in the jacket pocket of a Harris tweed jacket draped over the rear seats 😂

What a gem❤. Amazing that 95% of the original production cars are still around. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.

JACK!!! You continually suprise me with these cars you get for this channel! It is always a pleasure learning more about these super cool cars. Thanks!

It's a beautiful car .... so stylish. And I like your "it's a GT not a sports car" comment. Soooo many GT's are regarded as "sports" cars when they aren't. Alfa GT 04-10 is one.

Ow dear Lord, this is such a pretty car. Saw it in your YT Short with that music behind it and I melted, again. First came across one of these years ago in an episode of Waking the Dead and the looks just stunned me instantly. In that episode it belonged to a drug dealer who fitted it with a 'special' petrol tank so he could carry some smokeable substances and the turtle logo was mentioned too. Thank you for sharing, they are sooo rare and altogether loveable.

I’m so glad I grew up during a time when such cars were possible. The never again cars and times. RIP.

That console is insane, like a space ship

A 327 Chevy is never a bad idea. This is a beautifully understated but elegant car. This could have lived in the same space as the Jensen Interceptor had it had a chance. Great video!

Stunning car and video.

Spot on Jack, Re the automatic and P.A.S, My late father restored a manual one about 30 years ago, GLB 5J, took him ages. When it was finished he took my mum for a drive, lasted about a mile and a half and turned around to go back home. He found the manual gearbox and with no P.A.S made it a very heavy car to drive, he sold it and bought another Jag.

Beautiful. Just beautiful. I'd love one of these 👍🙂

A lovely looking car

2:00 it's a tortoise not a turtle. Completely different animal

Amazing find, great car. Super video. Love the dashboard, it really shows the best of practical design. Like the idea of the progressive throttle, great way to discourage speeding and using fuel. It should be adopted today. The Company goes bankrupt due to a strike? Really, in Britain? Well nothing has changed there, we are headed in the same direction today.

It's that time again. Home from a long days work. Cold beer. Let us have a look what's happening on youtube. And hey presto! There is number 27, waiting to be devoured!! Awesome Jack. Thanks. Greetings from the Netherlands

Regarding the tortoise emblem...I was an apprentice at keewest developments in the late 1970s working for Jim Keeble & Geoffrey West....in Jim Keebles own words....''we were on a photoshoot for one of the cars & a tortoise appeared....I put it on the bonnet of the car where it proceeded to do a woopsie which lifted the paint!...we decided there & then that the GK would have to have a tortoise as its emblem''

a Gordon Keeble what a brilliant car Giugiaro at his best still quick and beautiful you wont find many for sale really valuable you can still see some peerless in the grille !!! one of the best cars you have driven yet jack!!

Absolutely brilliant video jack ❤👍 what a beautiful car absolutely stunning car brilliant

Just watching the wheel move over the bumps you can see it ride's beautifully with a compliance rarely seen in modern car's.

A really good looking car in the flesh. One of my flying instructors had one back in the '70s and it sounded and went very nicely. I believe they actually built 90 to start with and then another 10 after the liquidation when the company was briefly resurrected in '66-'67, so 100 in total and none after that date.

There is a Gordon-Keeble and a 260z 2+2 Super Samuri that have both both been sat under tarps slowly rotting local to me for the last 20 years. Such a shame. The guy that owns them when asked about them claimed he was waiting for them to be collected for scrap. Great to have a little more info on the GK, brilliant video!

In the late 60’s a kid at my school used to be dropped off/picked up in a Gordon Keeble that externally looked the same as this one. The ‘slab’ of switches was backed by a large stainless steel patterned plate. The engine burbled beautifully. I have only seen one in all the intervening years. What a treat! Thank you.

I remember seeing a Gordon Keeble in Christchurch, New Zealand in the early 1970s and it had the look of pure class. Especially the interior which does resemble the cockpit of an aeroplane with all the switchgear arrayed on the prominent centre console. The melodious burble of that V8 is a nice bonus.

This Gordon Keeble is brilliant! I saw and filmed a pair (one a prototype) at the last London Classic Car Show! The mission, if you choose to accept it, is to track down this cars predecessor, the Slough built Peerless. Keep bringing us cars like these.👍🏾

Jack, I've been watching your content after recently subscribing to the channel and I really love the insight and backstory of the cars featured in the videos!^^ Keep up the great work and warm regards to you from Indonesia.

We had chassis number 57 in the family in the 70's. It turned up about a mile from where I lived, 350 miles away from where it was when I grew up, after a 20 year disappearance, and I tried to buy it, but it wasn't to be. The prices have since spiralled, so that dream's over now.

Tortoise, not turtle. Pedants'R'Us :)

Such a beautiful car, one of my all time favourites along with a stunning badge design too. Keep up the good work Jack.

Must be more than 20 years ago that I've seen one in reality - strangely in Kiel, Northern Germany. It was a white one - a colour I always think about to be critical for a car, since it shows every design flaw - but it was so nice (and I knew what it was, which surprised myself). It was just parked at the side of a road, so I could not hear the sound, sadly. But now I could hear it, thanks for that.

Perfect proportions, one of the most beautiful cars ever built

Very cool and unusual car and what a great road test/review (as we`ve come to expect from this great channel!)

A famous Liverpool club and boutique owner had one in the sixties that I used to drool over fell in love with the interior glad to see one on u tube

I just love it when you talk about size 11 feet. Mine are French size 46. I drive a 74 Peugeot 504 coupe.

Part of the consortium buy out was Harold Smith motors of Park Road St. John’s Wood.My father worked there and I remember at the age of 6 sitting in and playing in new ones for sale in the showroom and my dad taking me out for a drive… we had the turtle insignia as our doorbell at home.. my dream car..

Ive only ever seen one in real life. That was about 15 years ago. It's stayed with me ever since. THAT'S how nice this car is.

WOW LOOKS STUNNING, SOUNDS INCREDIBLE, INTERIOR LOOKS GLORIOUS, LOVE THIS CAR..CAN I GET ONE OF THE 80 PRODUCED? GREAT REVIEW THANK YOU --Number 27

What an epic car, I remember them. It sounds a bit like the story an old friend once told me of fishing rods. An old friend was one of the first to sell carbon fiber fishing rods, and when he first imported them he tried to sell them at a knock down price, but no one would buy them. A friend of his came buy and told him that they were too cheap. No one will buy them at that price since they are not "value for money". So he took them out of the window for a month, put them back at twice the price, and from that point on could never get enough to meet demand. Keeble was the same.

Thank you for this video! I have heard so much about these cars but never seen a film of one before.

The rear and the roofline and pillar joining to the tail look really classy - as do the overall proportions. Personally, striking as it is, the front is my least favourite aspect. I’d love to see you review and Alvis of similar vintage - a car I would have bought, had I not been saving to get married.

Puts me in mind of a Deauville... One of my dream cars. This really is one of those "best cars you've never heard of" Every time I see that title, I've heard of it. But this, never actually heard of it. So that's fun. Edit: I originally said Mangusta, but I meant Deauville. It's very early in the upside down land here lol.

Great vid as usual Jack, well researched, well edited and well presented - top job. Beautiful car too, I love that interior.

What an absolutely charming car, imagine it in dark metallic blue with ivory hide! Thanks for the back story Jack.

Really good review as ever, Thank you Jack. Great to meet you in person at Rustival too. All the best with the channel. 👍👍

Fascinating thanks Jack. I’ve seen these for sale over the years in UK classic car mags but had no idea what they were all about. Thanks for filling the gap in my knowledge

The badge/logo is a tortoise not a turtle (turtles spend most of their life in water (fresh or salt), where as tortoises are essentially land based. Hence the pet tortoise stealing the show during the photo shoot. Always loved these cars, superb styling.

Love your work Jack! Thanks for all the lovely old interesting cars!

Jack I always enjoy ALL your productions. The Gordon Keeble was one of my favorite cars in the 60's. Very interested in its history. As a Yorkshire lad who left the UK shores in the early 70's I love to see the countryside where you are driving. One day I hope to return

Cool dash and ‘center gadget’ panel

Beautiful cars, I do remember seeing one as a child in London. Gorgeous looks and that interior!!!! Thanks Jack for yet another great video!

Never heard of them until this video but taking into account when they were built, that 95% are still here is amazing. Obviously sourcing engine parts may be challenging but not impossible. Other parts however must be nigh on impossible. Obviously being such a small manufacturer they probably sourced a lot of parts that were generally available on the market as opposed to designing and manufacturing themselves. What surprises me most is that they went into liquidation and no large manufacturer bought up the rights to continue the line. Humber, Rover and others would have had a prime candidate for their segment of the market but as with many products it's not always the best one that survives. The fact that they have proves that they were indeed much better than their counterparts of that era. I'm surprised that nobody even now jumps at the chance of putting them back into production.

Certainly a great review, if not one of your best. Side and rear view, stunning, front, so very beautiful. The interior is just simply gorgeous, I adore the sloped instrument panel, the contrast of the black and brown is stunning. What an absolutely beautiful car. Nothing better than a classic 1960's car. Thank you so much for finding this gem. The video was fantastic.

Very informative video which I enjoyed very much. Well done.

Hey Jack, I just got to say I really love your channel on here on KZfaq. Just discovered it not long ago and I know about the Gordon cable. I've read about it before and from the first time I ever saw it. It always struck me as being just incredibly pretty. Such a beautiful car and I've always been a sucker for incredible, well designed cars and the Gordon keeble does not disappoint whatever shortcomings it has for me. It would be worth it. I mean such an incredibly pretty car it's just a shame they didn't produce more of them and produce them for much longer. But keep it up. Love the channel! Keep you up the great work. Look forward to you next video

Jack thanks for featuring this car. I had known about this car in the late 1960's and had seen a few pictures. One was reportedly sent to Australia but I can find no record of it. It is a very pretty (?) car. No, I think attractive and balanced. But I finally get to see one. It has taken a long time! Your videos and selection of cars just gets better each time. You should feel proud that people are willing to loan such gems to you. That is high praise from owners. It is about time you ran another video of your Lotus.

One of the best badges ever on that car. Along with everything else. Always wanted to know what it felt like to drive one of these, fantastic video, thanks.

Very cool car, Jack. Thank you for showing yet another unique salon I've never seen before and it's gorgeous. Peace.

I remember L. J. K. Setright adored these cars. I cannot think of this vehicle without his reference to it as the "late, lamented, Gordon-Keeble" popping into my mind. Thanks for sharing this classic with us. 😎

Back in the early 80's as I walked to school, there was one of these parked on the side of the road. Stunning car. Lots of styling cues from the Triumph Vitesse. Now the Vitesse is a good looking car, but this care was just done better, more tasteful, more curves.

As many have already said, once I'd seen the dash and centre console, I didn't much care about the performance. That's an added bonus. But interior wise, matt black with chrome dials and switches. Who could want for more?

I have always liked the Gordon Keeble, 'incredible' is a very good description. The interior is just as nice with all those switches in the centre consul they really set the car off and someone has done a good job with the re-trim. Not forgetting of course that V8 sound burbling away! Would they have survived if they used rack and pinion steering? Who knows but as someone else has said making cars requires big investment. In the early 60's we still had the legacy of WW2 hanging over us in terms of the economy so small independents needed to have quite deep pockets to succeed. Such a shame they were not able to build more cars. 👍👍

That's a beautiful thing Jack I have heard of that make never realised it was so cool thanks for featuring it 😁👍

The saddest thing is that at least two of the 99 have been converted to electric power.

Thanks for making this; I'd never heard of it. (Though I did know instantly that it was a late 50's - early 60's design. very much in that idiom) Love the mass of toggle switches - as an American that 'says' British car of a certain age. Fell in love them as a child on E types.

As soon as heard that engine start up I thought "that sounds like a good ol' American V8"...yep, the iconic Chevy small-block, in 327 cubic inch form!

The sound is beautiful!

In the early 1980's, I regularly saw a red forlorn Gordon Keeble car parked in St. Charles Place, just adjacent to Ladbroke Grove. I often wonder if that car survived, it made such an impression on me that fifty years later, I can still recall where it was parked.

Great item 😊

Must confess I often put Jack's videos on for background while I'm pottering. I never miss a word but don't usually see all of the footage. This one, however, was a case of pour a drink and stay glued to the screen. Fascinating. I knew production was only in double figures but didn't know the whole story. I love the looks of the car and the dashboard and switchgear layout is brilliant. It's a car which could push the E39 off the top of my bucket list.

Love this video, thanks for the education. I knew of Gordon Keebles but never this detail. Thanks Jack!

Never heard of it before. But now I know about it, and it seems like a lovely, lovely car! Especially considering that almost all of those produced still exist, that speaks volumes for how much their owners care!

I've always thought the tortoise on the badge was a play on the fable of the hare and the tortoise. Fabulous cars, Gordon Keeble's.

i just love your history lessons - be they "at home" or "behind the wheel" you deserve 1000 x more subscribers than you have Jack

Wonderful video. I just adore this car. I've only ever seen one once at the Motor Museum (Haynes) in Sparkford, Somerset. Glorious motor. Lovely to hear 95/10] still survive.

Hello Jack! What a priveledge for all you putting us in the driver's seat of this glorious Gordon Keeble. That beautiful design of that epoque could only be Italian... the recent passing away of the great Marcello Gandini being one of them. Many motoring writers of yesteryear praised the Gordon Keeble. To me it's GT style and ability brings to mind the fabulous, and French, Facel Vega HK 500... As an anecdote, I belive the cars were all "road tested" to 140mph... in the name of safety I'm sure! Thank you (and Len) so much for showing us all this English masterpiece.

You're getting some amazing cars - My 1st copy of Classic Cars magazine bought in 1978 - had a blue one on the cover - still to see one in real life!

Gorgeous car! So many lost gems in Europe. It's a crime that this company folded and this should be a car with much more reverence. Love the sound of that 327 small block.

I'd never heard of this car so many thanks. I like the all round visibility of the old cars

What a beautiful car, such speed and style. I am not at all surprised that some 95 of the 100 manufactured are still with us.